It is interesting to see a hype sweep across news web sites and blogs, especially when it allows for a catchy headline. Here are some of the titles:
- Digg: Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work, say scientists
- Guardian: Prozac Doesn’t Work, say British scientists, Reddit
- Times: Anti-depression drugs ‘no better than placebo’, Reddit
- BBC: Anti-depressants ‘of little use’, Reddit
- Raw Story: Study Doubts Effectiveness of Antidepressant Drugs, Reddit
- Reddit: One of the largest studies of modern antidepressant drugs has found that they don’t work
- Reddit: British Study Says Anti-Depressants Are Useless
- Slashdot: Antidepressants Work No Better Than a Placebo
Here is the link to the original article: Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits: A Meta-Analysis of Data Submitted to the Food and Drug Administration
The problem is, the study doesn’t say antidepressant don’t work. In short, the authors analysed the set of clinical trial data of the 4 new antidepressant drugs submitted to FDA. Their conclusion was that the more severe the depression, the better effect the drugs have, and for mild cases the effect only minimally differs from that of placebo. It is not the same as saying these drugs don’t work.
There is an insightful comment, and another one on Slashdot which sheds some light on the study. The sensation is that the study took unpublished results of clinical trials. There are reasons why some results go unpublished. One of the reasons may be that too many participants don’t reach the severity of the disease for the drug to be effective. Drawing conclusions from studies like that and submitting them to the internet crowds sounds a bit irresponsible.
Another issue is that often antidepressants are prescribed by GPs. Most GPs I’ve seen are barely competent to prescribe paracetamol.
And finally, everyone needs to read the Last Psychiatrist’s article on the study, in which it is said that:
It’s the exact same data they had 10 years ago, the exact same data. This isn’t a discovery, this isn’t Woodward and Bernstein, this is a bunch of academics who are no longer on Pharma payrolls who have now decided that they have nothing further to gain from pushing antidepressants.
Now they can pretend to be on the side of science. We reviewed the data, and found some of it was not published.
You knew that already. You were the ones who didn’t publish it — it’s your journal. Turner worked for 3 years as an NIH reviewer. He just notices this now?
Human mind is an uncharted territory, and psychiatry is not a precise discipline. Controlling brain using medicines may in some cases be compared to fixing a precise clockwork mechanism with a sledgehammer. But some things can be scientifically proven, and that includes the fact that antidepressant drugs do work, if not for everyone. And there really exists this thing called chemical imbalance which in some cases does cause clinical depression, among other nasty conditions. The armchair “psychiatrists” who rush to startling conclusions given just one “study” results really should read more on the subject. Because this “study” will have very negative consequences. Most people will only skim through the headlines, which are grossly misleading and wrong.
Don’t fall for the hype. Go read the Last Phychiatrist’s article now.
